Panel lines for models to be 3D printed

Hello Everyone,
I’m a newbie so I apologize if this has already been answered recently.

I’ve created a goofy low-poly sci-fi plane that I’d like to 3D print (once I get a printer), and I’d like to add panel line detailing once I’m further along.

Does anyone know if there’s a plug-in designed for that purpose (that can be used for models intended for 3D printing)?

If not, I’m totally ok with going the “long route” of using loop cuts, the knife tool, inset, etc. But if I’m missing a way to make the workflow more efficient, I’m all ears - Thanks! :slight_smile:

I think it depends on what you want. 3d printing does not require very nice topology so you could use boolean operations if you wanted a quick and dirty solution. It also makes sense to consider the size of the features and if the 3d printing process you are going to use will be able to reproduce them.

I believe the popular modeling addons are made exactly for this purpose : meshmachine, hardops etc. look them up.

Thank you very much for your help!

Thank you! Yes, I’ll have a look at those addons

Hey ! I might be late but eh

everything depends on the artstye and simplification you wanna have but you could check the Knife Project tool

I made a quick test and here is the result

Here is a youtube short to use the tool : https://www.youtube.com/shorts/l6hxGw_yds8?feature=share

I uploaded my.blend file for you to check.

Plane Panneling.blend (1.0 MB)

From here you car select the newly projected edges and split or bevel and thene do the magic I do not know for 3D printing !
IMO it’s a bit quicker and precise than to manually cut with the knife Tool.

Hopes it helps !

Thank you so much for your input! I’ll check it out :slight_smile:
Much appreciated!

I’m not sure what you’re looking for.

If you’re looking for spaceship surface decoration, please check out the Addon at the link.

https://superhivemarket.com/products/random-flow

You will likely need to do some extra work for printing.